Torrent sites being shut down?

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I've recently been using Torrent servers for sharing and d/l files and been using sites like suprnaova.org for getting my torrents from and its now been shutdown, are we likely to see all of these types of sites shutdown? Does anyone know the law of these types of file sharing apps etc. as I am new to this and don't understand a great deal of it. Do you d/l torrents? where do you get them from?

 

I'm not sure if these kind of discussions are allowed here because filesharing isn't legal. But yes, many sites has been shut down. I read about two guys in Finland who owned a torrent site being arrested by the police and might have to go to jail.

 

As BTA said the technology itself is not illegal, but most of the content that people are downloading with it IS.

The torrent sites are arguing that they are only providing a search engine service and in no way condone the sharing of material that is in violation of copyright laws etc. As far as I am aware this argument has been successful up to this point in time and thus the sites have remained up and running.

Based upon what I have read, Suprnova was shut down because it became too much of a hassle to operate and not due to a legal ruling. Mind you, constant protests and attempted/threats of legal action undoubtedly made up a large part of the reason why the suprnova people decided to throw in the towel.

 

I think this mostly concerns torrent-sites in US. Just to avoid repeating myself, here is the latest case: LokiTorrent vs. MPAA.

And like later said: the problem is not the sharing itself but the corrupted "justice" system as everyone should have their rights with or without money.

 

From what I have understood the torrent sites are shut down due to excessive traffic, not due to any legal threats. That is what the sites themselves say at least. Those that are still "up" are down more or less half the time due to overload.

 

I have a few points to make.

1. Bit Torrent is an excellent way to get Linux distributions. It's already hashed out, so not only are you *unlikely* to get a bad download, you are unlikely to need to re-download the entire DVD .iso image. You'll just have to download the bad chunks over again.

2. When the RIAA/MPAA/**AA's go through and make their threats, it's a good thing. It's good because it forces people to make BETTER protocols.

3. It's a guerrila war. And, unless they turn off the Intarweb, they cannot win. They cannot win because people can communicate with each other, and computers are not DRM controlled just yet. The only thing they can possibly do is reduce motivation for the pirates, but these companies don't want to do that.

4. It's funny. All of the Hollywood actors and musicians are socially liberal as hell, but when it comes to money, they are as conservative as a senator from Salt Lake City. Show me the money.

In respect to money, they want price controls. They want to have their own economic structure, which does not conform to the normal "supply and demand" structure that this entire bloody country was founded upon. I remember the Robber Barons trying to control the market, one time. The music and movie industries don't want to be controlled by this kind of market structure, they want an artificial law-regulated structure so they can keep prices high.

Piracy, by definition, is price competition in a monopoly market. It was back in the golden era of 1660 and the Tea Tax days of 1770, and it still is today.

 

I've heard that theres somthing new around the corner (probably what you mention Tal) that will be better than suprnova, plus it can't be THAT much of a hassel if the same team are still developing new software to replace it.

Is it that fact the laws are different in different countries and the MPAA can't do anything about it, or is it just that the only law breakers are the people at the other end taking advantage of the sharing? Im guessing this because I have seen warnings about posting torrents of MS's apps and other major software companies would cause the sites to come down, is this right?

I've only ever heard of a few people being arrested for file sharing/d/l ing, but the cases were very extreem and not like the average d/l er...

 

They can't go after all the average little one-song-a-day and one-movie-a-week file sharers. Only big fish are worth getting, like dealers that sell the copies professionally.

 

The persons they went after didn't sell them professionally - they rarely got any profit at all. Actually, they didn't even share most of the files, they just held up an indexing service to get access to trackers which had directions on how to connect to others sharing/downloading the same file.

 

That is right, but it is unproven in the court and IMO now the drop-out game has begun: those sites with no will and/or resources to maintain this indexing service will either run away when the first threat comes or get their lines shut down due of unpaid bills.

As to the finnish case, no one has been sued. The police simply raided places in search for warez (which they, of course, didn't have since they have only torrents). Again, this was done due of the request of MPAA, RIAA, and other rather infamous associations. It's more about scaring people and getting their sites offline for the duration of investigation (--and this way, maybe, permanently if they lose their guts--).

Anyway, there are new sharing networks coming that should eliminate all kind of tracking. Can't remember the names, but there were two and the other was Suprnova's Exeem (adware, btw) and the other was freeware.

 

Look forward to them, and Im sure you will too...